Bee & Butterfly Helpers

Welcome, little scientists! Today you will become Bee & Butterfly Helpers. Bees and butterflies are tiny creatures that help flowers grow by carrying pollen from one flower to another. They work hard every day, but sometimes they need our help to stay safe, find food, and have a place to rest.

In this WebQuest, you will watch, play, explore, and create as you learn all about pollinators. You will visit fun learning stations, use your hands and imagination, and discover what bees and butterflies need to live and grow.

Big Question:  How can we help bees and butterflies stay healthy and happy in our world?

• You will explore what they need
• You will decide how to help them
• You will create a solution to a real‑world problem

Follow these steps with your teacher and classmates. Each step includes an interactive activity that helps you learn by watching, touching, moving, and exploring—just like real scientists.

1. Watch & Wonder

Your teacher will show you short videos about bees and butterflies.

• As you watch, you will:
• Point to flowers when you see them
• Buzz like a bee when a bee appears
• Flap your arms like butterfly wings
• Touch your head when you notice something new

Think About:  

What do bees and butterflies need to stay healthy?

2. Explore & Play at Learning Stations

You will rotate through three fun stations. Each one helps you discover something important about pollinators.

Station 1 — Flower Sorting Garden

You will:

• Sort pretend flowers by color, size, or shape
• Place them into “garden baskets”
• Play a digital flower‑sorting game on a tablet

Your Job:  

Find patterns and make choices—just like scientists do.

Station 2 — Pollinator Puppet Adventure

You will:

• Use bee and butterfly puppets
• Visit pretend flowers around the room
• Dip your puppet into “pollen” (yellow pom‑poms)
• Carry the pollen to another flower

Your Job:  

Help your puppet find flowers that match its color or shape.

Station 3 — Sensory Nectar Table

You will explore:

• Colored water “nectar”
• Droppers and scoops
• Fake flowers
• Smooth stones and leaves

Your Job:  

Experiment with how droppers work.

What happens when you squeeze gently? What happens when you squeeze hard?

3. Create Your Pollinator Garden

Now it’s time to design your own garden! Choose one of the creation stations:

Art Station

Use:

• Construction paper
• Glue
• Markers
• Tissue paper
• Stickers

Texture Station

Use:

• Felt
• Cotton balls
• Sandpaper
• Buttons
• Pipe cleaners

Digital Station

Use a tablet to:

• Drag and drop flowers
• Add bees and butterflies
• Choose colors and shapes

Your Job:  

Make a garden that helps your pollinator feel safe and happy.

4. Share Your Garden

You will:

• Hold up your garden
• Press a big record button on the tablet
• Say one sentence about your pollinator
• Say one sentence about how your garden helps
• Your recording will be added to our class “Pollinator Museum.”

Describe to the learners how their performance will be evaluated. Specify whether there will be a common grade for group work vs. individual grades. 

You did it, little scientists! You explored how bees and butterflies help flowers grow, and you learned what pollinators need to stay healthy and happy. You watched videos, played at learning stations, experimented with materials, and created your very own Pollinator Garden.

Now you are an official Bee & Butterfly Helper.

Think About:

• How can you help pollinators at home or on the playground
• What would happen if pollinators didn’t have safe places to go
• How can you teach others to protect bees and butterflies

Your ideas can help real pollinators in the world around you. Keep exploring, keep noticing, and keep caring for nature.

Thank you to the creators of the resources that supported this WebQuest. The following videos, images, and digital tools were used to help students learn about bees, butterflies, and pollination:

Videos

• PBS Kids. “Bees, Bees, Bees!”
• National Geographic Kids. “Butterflies!”
• SciShow Kids. “Why Do We Need Bees?”

Interactive Games & Digital Tools

• ABCya. Make a Butterfly Garden
• PBS Kids Nature Games
• Starfall. Spring Flowers
• Seesaw Drawing & Recording Tool
• Google Drawings
• Canva for Kids Templates

Images & Clipart

Royalty‑free bee, butterfly, and flower clipart from educational clipart libraries

Teacher‑created flower sorting cards and puppet templates

Special Thanks

Thanks to classroom teachers and early childhood educators who inspired the hands‑on learning stations and sensory activities used in this WebQuest.

Grade Level:

Pre‑Kindergarten (ages 4–5)

Subject Area:

Science (Life Science – Pollinators & Plants) Integrated with: Literacy, Approaches to Learning, Fine Motor, and Technology

Purpose of the WebQuest

This WebQuest introduces young learners to the concept of pollinators through hands‑on exploration, sensory play, movement, and guided inquiry. Students learn what bees and butterflies need to survive and design a pollinator garden as a real‑world problem‑solving task.

The WebQuest supports early scientific thinking by encouraging students to observe, compare, experiment, create, and explain their ideas.

Standards Alignment (WV Early Learning Standards Framework)

Science

• SC.S.1: Children explore the natural world using their senses.

• SC.S.2: Children investigate characteristics of living things.

• SC.S.3: Children participate in simple investigations.

Approaches to Learning

• AL.S.1: Curiosity, initiative, and risk‑taking in learning.

• AL.S.2: Engagement and persistence in tasks.

• AL.S.3: Creativity and problem‑solving.

Language & Literacy

• LL.S.1: Children listen to and understand information.

• LL.S.2: Children express ideas verbally.

• LL.S.3: Children use new vocabulary in meaningful contexts.

Technology

• T.S.1: Children use digital tools for exploration and creation.

• T.S.2: Children use technology to communicate ideas.

Teacher Instructions

Before the WebQuest

• Prepare three learning stations:

  1. Flower Sorting Garden

  2. Pollinator Puppet Adventure

  3. Sensory Nectar Table

• Preload videos and digital games on tablets or classroom devices.

• Gather art materials and digital creation tools (Seesaw, Google Drawings, Canva for Kids).

• Print or display pollinator vocabulary cards.

During the WebQuest

• Facilitate each station by modeling language and encouraging exploration.

• Ask open‑ended questions such as:

  • “What do you notice?”

  • “Why do you think that happened?”

  • “How could we help this pollinator?”

• Support students in creating their Pollinator Garden using the station of their choice.

• Assist students in recording their audio explanation.

After the WebQuest

• Display student gardens in a “Pollinator Museum.”

• Play audio recordings during a gallery walk.

• Encourage students to share what they learned with families.

Materials Needed

• Pretend flowers (felt, foam, or plastic)

• Sorting baskets

• Bee and butterfly puppets

• Yellow pom‑poms (“pollen”)

• Sensory table with colored water, scoops, droppers, stones, leaves

• Construction paper, glue, markers, tissue paper, stickers

• Tablets or computers with:

  • Seesaw

  • Google Drawings

  • ABCya

  • PBS Kids Nature Games

• Audio recording tool (Seesaw or tablet microphone)

Teacher Notes

• Keep activities short, hands‑on, and movement‑based to match Pre‑K attention spans.

• Provide visual supports and model vocabulary: pollinator, nectar, flower, garden, help, safe.

• Encourage students to make choices and explain their thinking in simple sentences.

• Allow flexibility—students may revisit stations or choose different materials.

• Support English language learners with gestures, pictures, and sentence starters.

• Celebrate creativity and curiosity rather than focusing on “correctness.”